Feather treatment



Aug .'5, l941. B, BQUDA A 2,251,438 FEATHER TREATMENT Fijled May 2a, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY Aug, 5, 1941. B, BOUDA' 2,251,438-

FEATHER TREATMENT Filed May 23, 1938 4 Sheets-Shet 2 FIE-7 A TTORNEY U 5. 5000/4 INVENTOR.

Aug. 5, 1941. B. BOUDA 7 2,251,438

FEATHER TREATMENT.

Filed May 25, 1938 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 5. BOUDH IN V EN TOR.

A TTORNE Y Aug. 5, 1941. B. BOUDA 2,251,438

FEATHER TREATMENT D Filed May 25, 1938 4 sheet-s-sht 4 5. Bot/DA T INVENTOR A TTORNEY Patented Aug. 5, 1941 UNITE "1 Claims.

' The present invention relates to the production of down and more particularly to processes and apparatus for the stripping of feathers for the production of down.

' In this country, one may obtain so called down pillows and cushions by the payment of substantially higher prices than for the same article admittedly stuffed with feathers. This so called down is obtained by removing first the large feathers from the bird and then removing the small feathers. The latter are employed generally in the condition they are obtained from the bird. It has been attempted to improve the condition of feathers by comminuting them, the feathers being cut across the shafts so as to divide them up into several sections. This has proven to be a distinct failure. The feathers so produced are just as heavy as prior to comminuting. Pillows produced from the comminuted product are just as hard as though produced from normal feathers. In addition to these lacks of advantage, the cut ends of the shafts protrude through the casing during use and are more objectionable than normal feathers since they scratch instead of rub.

In Europe the situation is quite different. A manual operation is performed on the feathers which is termed stripping, in which each feather is held in one hand by the outer end and the barbs near this end are grasped with the other hand and pulled away from the outer end. By this procedure, the barbs of the feather are removed from the shaft which is discarded. In this operation, a small section of barbs remains at the outer end which it is impossible to strip. Due to the general lack of patience of the people in this country and their desire to have all tasks done by others, no substantial quantity of stripped feathers is here produced.

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide processes and apparatus for the stripping of feathers; i. e., for the removal of barbs from shafts.

Further objects will be apparent from a corn sideration of the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Feathers are composed ,of two main parts, the shaft and the barbs. The shaft is constituted of the quill or part which attaches the feather to the skin of a bird and the rachis or part to which the barbs are attached. For convenience in this description, the end of the feather at which the quill is located is termed the quill end and the other end is termed the outer end.

In accordance with the present invention, a feather is gripped initially at its quill end, the point at which the feather is gripped being moved along the feather progressively toward the outer 5 end and the barbs being moved relatively to the shaft, toward the quill end, until pulled from the shaft, the barbs at the quill end being moved first and beinggripped progressively along the length of the feather toward the outer end.

Suitable devices for carrying out the process of the present invention and machines forming the subject matter of this invention are shown in the accompanying drawings forming a part of this application. In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is anelevation of a machine in accordance with the present invention, with parts broken away better to show the structure;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section substantially on the line 2--2 in Fig. 1, showing the feather stripper employed in the machine for the stripping of coarse feathers;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section substantially on the line 33 in Fig. 1, showing the feather stripper employed in the machine for the stripping of fine feathers;

Fig. 4 is an elevation of the stripper shown in Fig. 3 with parts broken away and partially in section on the line li of Fig. 3 to show the driving mechanism;

Fig. 5 is an elevation of a portion of the stripping roll;

Fig. 6 is a section substantially on the line 6fi in Fig. 5;

Fig. '7 is a section substantially on the line 1-4 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 8 is a longitudinal section through a modified form of feather stripper; and

Fig. 9 is a section through another modified form of feather stripper.

Referring to Fig. 1, the machine of the present invention involves, in general, a feather separator 9, a pair of stripping mechanisms l0, and a down collector H. The feather separator 9 comprises a feather hopper l2 for receiving the raw feathers and has at its lower end' a wheel it provided with pins A5 for feeding the feathers gradually into the main compartment of the separator. An air inlet I6 is positioned in a side it wall of the separator compartment below the wheel i l and is provided with a valve ll, to adjust the force of the air stream, and with a plurality of plates 58 or the like by which the flow of air into the compartment is controlled to elim- The separating compartment is provided with an outlet l9 in the opposite end thereof from the air inlet [6 and with a divider 29 in the bottom of the compartment between the inlet 16 and the outlet l9. The outlet I9 communicates by a pipe 2| with a down receiving bag 22 positioned in a suction box 23 which is in communication with the inlet end of suction fan 24. The bag 22 is of fabric or the like which allows the ready passage of air therethrough but prevents the escape of the down. The outlet end of the suction fan 24 communicates with a dust-receiving box 25 which removes the residual dust from the air circulating through the system.

An outlet 26 is positioned in the lower portion of the feather separator between the air in-' let l and the divider 29 to receive the coarse feathers, and a second outlet 21 is positioned between the divider 29 and the outlet I9 to receive the finer feathers which drop through the stream of air and are not carried into the receiver 22 with the down. However, in this connection it should be noted that some of the extremely fine feathers may be carried by the air with the down into the receiver 22.

Coarse feather stripper 28 comprises a casing 29 which encloses a drum 30 into which the outlet 26 discharges coarse feathers. This drum is provided with openings in its surface which are large at their inner end, taper to a minimum diameter near the outer surface of the drum and are again enlarged toward the outer surface. In order to reduce the area of the inner surface as many holes should be provided as conveniently possible, as by arranging the holes in offset rows. Also, the inner ends of the openings may be hexagonal, whereby the surface between openings may be reduced to a sharp edge. This drum is mounted to rotate counterclockwise, as shown in Fig. 2. An agitator 32 is mounted coaxially with the drum to oscillate therein and has a plurality of arms 33 extending into proximity with the inner surface of the drum. These arms 33 act upon the feathers to assist in working the feathers through the drum.

I have found that a drum of the character above described allows the passage of feathers, quill end first, through the openings so that all th feathers are arranged in one direction. A feed wheel 35 is positioned below the feather receiving drum and has a plurality of radially extending arms 36 secured thereto. This feed wheel 35 and its arms 36 are of rubber and the arms are of a length to press lightly against or move in close proximity to the surface of a grooved plate 31 positioned at one side thereof. The feathers which extend from the drum are caught between the feed wheel 35 and the grooved plate 3! and are drawn thereby down to the lower end of the plate, the grooves 38 keeping the feathers in line. A relatively slow moving feed roll 39 having a longitudinally fluted, metallic surface is mounted for rotation in the machine frame and is positioned in proximity to the lower end of the plate 31. A second feed roll 40 having a rubber surface is mounted to rotate in the upper ends of a pair of arms 41 which are pivoted on a pair of stub shafts 42 carried by the frame. The arm-s 4| are provided at the lower end of each with an opening 43 in which a hook on a rod 44 is positioned, said rod passing through the machine frame and being provided with conventional spring tensioning means to tension the roll 40 against feed roll 33. By the above described means, feathers are arranged, quill ends first, and fed in this position at a regular speed.

Immediately below and adjacent to the feed rolls 39 and 40 is located a feather stripping roll 45 formed of a substantially rigid material, such as steel, and provided with a series of grooves 46 of size suitable to receive the shafts of feathers, the size depending upon the size of feathers to be fed to the particular roll. As shown in Fig. 5, the roll is provided with square bottom grooves. This particular shape is not essential to obtaining the desirable results of the present invention. Any other shaped grooves may be used which allows adequate room for the reception of the shafts of the feathers to be fed to the roll. This roll 45 is further provided with knurling 41 on the lands between the grooves. While the well known fine knurling is very suitable for the purposes of the present invention, any other roughening of the surface may, within the scope of this invention, be employed. A pressure member 48 is provided, in the form of a belt to press against a substantial portion of the periphery, of the stripping roll 45. This belt 48 is arranged to be pressed against the roll 45 by a pair of pinch rollers 49, 50, each of which is rotatably supported in the upper end of a pair of arms 53, 54 which are pivoted upon stub shafts 55, midway of the length of each. The lower ends of the arms 53, 54 are provided with openings in each of which is secured a hook 51 which passes through the machine frame and is provided with spring tensioning means 58 to press the rolls 49, 50 against the stripping roll 45. An additional pair of rolls 5|, 52 is mounted on a pair of rocker arms 59, each of which is centrally pivoted to one of a pair of levers 60. The levers 60 are pivoted at El and are arranged with an opening at the lower end in which the spring 62 is located, which spring is backed by an adjustment screw 63 by which the tension on the rolls 5|, 52 may be adjusted. In order to tension the belt 48, a further roll 64 is provided at the opposite end of the belt from the stripping roller. The roll 64 is mounted on a pair of arms 65 pivoted at 66 and provided at the opposite end from the roll 64 with an opening 61 and spring tensioning means 68 of conventional form. By means of the stripping roll 45 and the pressure member in the form of belt 48, operating in conjunction with feed rollers 39, 40, the barbs are stripped from the shafts of feathers and both barbs and shafts are discharged at the left side of the roll 45.

In order to separate the down from the shafts, an opening 69 is provided adjacent the outlet between the stripping roll 45 and the pressure member 48, which opening is in an end of the suction pipe Ti]. Referring to Fig. 1, the suction pipe 10 communicates with a collecting bag 1| in the suction box 23. In this bag I I, all down stripped from the shafts is separated from the air and retained until desired. Due to the stiffness of the quills, the shafts are fed upwardly away from the opening 69 and are deflected also, in part, by the arcuate member 12 to a belt 13 between which and the arcuate member the shafts are caught. This belt 13 is carried and driven by a pair of rolls 14, 15. This belt draws the shafts into the inlet of suction pipe 16 which communicates with a collector 11 in the suction box, similar to the collectors 22 and H.

While the feather stripper 28 above described in detail is particularly adapted to the stripping of coarse feathers, it should be remembered in this connection that this feather stripper may be used for either fine or coarse feathers, even though it is best suited to the coarse feathers. For small installations where a single feather stripper is to be employed and no separation of the feathers into coarse and fine feathers and down is to be effected, a single stripper of the character above described may be employed to strip all the feathers or, if preferred, another stripper, as described below, may be employed.

The fine feathers frorn'the separating compartment are fed through the outlet 27 therefrom to a stripper it particularly adapted for fine feathers. This stripper involves a drum located in a compartment similar to the compartment 29 of the stripper 28. The drum is somewhat similar to the drum 3d of the previously described stripper. However, the openings F9 in this drum 80, instead of being radial as the openings in the previously described drum, are positioned at an angle to the radius. The outer ends of the openings trail the inner ends of theopenings as the drum rotates in clockwise direction, as seen in Fig. 3. This drum is provided with an oscillating agitator 32, the same as previously described. A plurality of plates 8! are located adjacent the lower surface of the drum perpendicular to the axis thereof to hold the feathers which protrude from the drum in alignment. Also positioned below the drum 383 is a suction chamber 82 provided with a pipe 85 communicating with the suction box 23. The end of the suction chamber 22 adjacent the plates 8! is open. An openwork fabric belt M is positioned about the suction box 82 and is provided with a roll 85 which holds the fabric belt taut and in position adjacent the plates 3i. An idle rubber covered feed roll 8% is positioned adjacent the roll 85 and is supported for free rotation in arms 81 reciprocable in supports es. The supported end of the arms iii are hollow and house springs 89. Adjustment screws 9!] are screw-threadedly mounted in the supports 38 to press against the springs 89 and tension the feed roll 85 away from the support 88. A feed roll EI is mounted in fixed position for rotation in contact with the feed roll 86. The surface of the feed roll 9! is metal and the roll is longitudinally fluted in order to hold the feathers and feed them at a fixed rate.

A stripping roll 92, similar to the stripping roll 55 heretofore described, is positioned below and adjacent to the feed rolls 8t and 9!. A pair of pinch rolls 93 and 9t hold a pressure belt 95 against the feed roll 92 and around a substantial portion thereof. The belt. 95 is spring tensioned by means of an idle roll 9% mounted in one end of each of a pair of arms 97!, pivoted on supports 98. An adjustment bolt 9%), screwthreaded in the frame of the machine, adjustably presses against a spring use which presses against the lever 9? toretract the roll 95 and place tension on the belt 95. Since roll 93 is rotatably mounted at one end of each of a pair of arms IQI, which are pivoted at their opposite ends at I62, in a position so that the arms extend outwardly from a position tangential to the stripping roll 92, tensioning of the belt 95 causes roll 9? to press belt 95 against the stripping roll s2. An additional pair of pinch rolls I03, we is positioned to bear against the belt 95 between the pinch rolls 93 and 9 5. These pinch rolls H13, use are mounted for rotation in the ends of a rocker arm Hi5 which is centrally pivoted to a lever IE6 which, in turn, is pivoted at lli'l. Compression spring "38 is mounted in an opening in the lever IllB to turn the lever I06 in a direction which presses the rolls I03, I94 against the belt 95. A bolt I09 is screwthreadedly mounted in a frame member to press against spring Hi8 with a selectably adjustable force.

As viewed in Fig. 3, the shafts and barbs stripped therefrom are discharged together from between the stripping roll 92 and the belt 95 at the left side of the roll. The shafts are directed by a plurality of deflectors IIB, III, H2, and H3 to follow the belt 95 around the roll 96. The deflector H3 forms one side of the open end of a suction pipe Ild which communicates with suction pipe 16 which carries the shafts from stripper 28. The side IE5 of the open end of suction pipe IM opposite the deflector H3 is spaced slightly from the belt 95 to allow a stream of air to enter pipe II l between this side H5 and the belt, thereby preventing any shafts from clinging to the belt.

The deflectors I it! and IE2 constitute two sides of the open end of suction pipe Hit, and have the deflector i l I positioned between them to form two openings, one between the deflectors I I0 and ill and the other between deflectors III and i I 2. The streams of air through these openings, produced by suction in pipe IIo which is connected to pipe Hi, act to remove the barbs from the belt 95 and thereby separate the barbs from the shafts from which they have been stripped.

Referring now to Fig. 4 which shows the drive mechanism for the stripper It, the power is delivered to the stripper through a pulley I I I keyed to the shaft N8 of stripper roll 532. A gear H9 is also keyed to shaft I it and engages a gear I20, being large relatively to the gear H9. Further speed reduction is effected through a gear I22 keyed to the shaft iii, the gear I22 being in engagement with a relatively large gear E23 keyed to the shaft 2 3 of the fluted metallic feed roll iii. The gear ratios should be such as to drive the feed roll at a substantially lower peripheral speed than the stripping roll as.

The belt and the pinch rolls 83, 8 3, I03, and it are driven by contact of the belt with the stripping roll 92. Similarly, the pinch roll 86 and the belt til are driven by contact of the pinch roll with the feed roll and of the belt with the pinch r01 (it.

A gear 525 is keyed to feed roll shaft 92 and is in driving engagement with a gear f2$ keyed to shaft #2? journaled in the frame of the machine. Shaft i2'! is also provided with a gear E23 keyed thereto in driving engagement with a gear I29 mounted to rotate freely on sleeve IL carried by the machine frame. The drum fill, into which the feathers are fed, is attached, as by rivets itl, coaxially to the gear I29 to be rotated with this gear. A shaft I32 extends through the sleeve 835i and is provided with a crank arm i313 on its outer end, the agitator 32 secured to the inner end of shaft I32. A link its is connected to the crank arm I33 by a pin 535 and to the gear M5 by a pin I35 positione eccentrically thereof, so that rotation of gear I26 osciilates the agitator.

As the details of the drive mechanism for the stripper 23 are, in general, the same as for the stripper f8, this mechanism is not illustrated, the only substantial difference being the addition of gear drives for the rotating member 35 and the roll it which are driven from one of the rotating shafts.

When the mechanism of the present invention is employed, no preliminary separation of the feathers during picking of the birds is necessary. The feathers to be stripped are delivered directly to the hopper I2 from which they are fed by the wheel I4 into the air stream admitted through the opening I6 in the side of the separating compartment. The lightest materials, that is, the slight amount of natural down and a few of the extremely small feathers, are carried by the stream of air through conduit 2| into separator 22. The remaining feathers, which constitute almost the entire bulk of the feed to the hopper, are classified by the separator into coarse feathers, which drop into the opening 26, and fine feathers, which drop into the opening 21, in each instance being fed into a stripper,

The feather shafts from the strippers are drawn by suction through the conduit I6 into the separating bag II in which they collect. The barbs of the feathers are drawn by suction through conduit I9 into a separating bag II. When it is desired to unload the bags 22, II, and II, the shutters at the lower ends of the bags which extend through openings in the floor of the suction box are opened and the materials are removed separately from each of the bags. The down in bag II is of higher grade than even the material collecting in the bag 22. The feather shafts from the bag 'l'I may be disposed of as desired.

In the stripper 28 which handles the coarse feathers, the feathers are worked through the openings 3| in drum 36, due to rotation of the drum. The oscillator 32 may be used, if desired, to increase the rate at which the feathers Work through the openings, though this oscillation is used merely to speed up production. The quill ends only of the feathers work through the openings, since, due to the construction of feathers, it is virtually impossible for a feather to work its way through an opening outer end first. The quill ends are caught between the arms 36 of the rotating member 35 and the grooved plate 3'! and are drawn thereby, being kept in line by the grooves 38, to the feed rolls 39 and 40, in which they are firmly gripped and fed at an even rate. As the feathers protrude from between the feed rolls, the quills lodge in grooves 45 in the stripping roll 65 and slide freely therein. As the feathers feed farther, the knurled lands 41 between the grooves, in conjunction with the belt 68, grip the barbs of the feathers and start pulling them toward the quill end. Upon further pulling of the barbs, they are eventually detached before they arrive at the outlet from the means grippings the barbs. It should be noted that the first barbs detached are those adjacent the quill and that subsequently the barbs farther up the shaft are removed. When the feed rolls free the very outer end of the feather, the section not yet stripped, i. e., the section between the feed rolls and the stripping roll, will fail to be stripped. This, however, is a very small proportion of the total barb area of the feathers and the amount lost does ot exceed the loss under hand operation.

In order to increase the capacity of the machine, the member 35 may be driven at a substantially higher peripheral speed than feed roll 39. When so operated, the member 35 will carry the ends of the feathers to the left of roll 39, as seen in Fig. 2. In order to hold the feathers in line during such high speed operation, plates 34 are provided between member 35 and roll 39.

The barbs, after being stripped from the shafts by stripping roll 45, are then separated by suction from the shafts, and both barbs and shafts are conveyed to the separating bags where they are separated from the air.

In the stripper I8, the finer feathers are fed into the drum 80, and from there are fed through openings I9 as in the case of the drum 39. As the protruding quills come around to the belt 84, they are guided between plates BI in order to hold them straight. The suction through the belt 84 causes the protruding feathers to cling thereto and be drawn the rest of the way out of the drum. The belt 84 carries the feathers to the feed rolls 86 and 9|, which operate in conjunction with the stripping roll 92, as above described in connection with stripper 28. The barbs are separated by suction from the shafts and both shafts and barbs are conveyed to the collecting bags and separated from air.

In order to illustrate the broad scope of the present invention and to show other machines suitable for the performance of the process hereof, two other feather stripping machines are disclosed in Figs. 8 and 9. In the machine shown in Fig. 8, hopper I56 is provided with a screen bottom I5I and is connected by a link I52 to a wheel I53 to effect reciprocation of the hopper. An agitator I54 is pivoted on pin I55 at the lower end of lever I56 which is pivoted on a fixed pin I51 midway of its length. A link I58 is pivoted to the upper end of lever I56 and is also connected eccentrically to rotating wheel I59 to effect oscillation of the lever I56 and agitation of the member I54.

Below screen I5I an endless fabric belt I66 is positioned which extends around two rolls IEI, A box I63 is positioned between the rolls I6I and I62 and is provided with an open upper side, the edges of which are in proximity to the belt. The belt is of a fabric of such nature that air is drawn therethrough by the suction box whereby feathers are held in position on the belt. As the feathers work through the screen I5I gradually, and the belt I69 is in constant motion in one direction, the quill ends of the feathers are dragged along by the belt until they are entirely disengaged from the screen, at which time they will drop down on the belt and be fed thereby, quill end first. An air baflie I65 is mounted on the hopper at the outlet end of the upper run of the belt I66 to prevent air currents from disarranging the feathers on the belt.

Also positioned at the outlet end of the upper run of belt I6!) is a longitudinally fluted metallic feed roll I65 which, in accordance with a preferred form of this invention, is driven and effects the driving of the belt I 69 by pressure thereagainst. In line with the outlet of feed roll I65 and belt I66 which cooperates therewith, the machine is provided with a stripping roll I66 of the character previously described. A soft rubber roll I6! is mounted to press against roll I66 with sufficient force that rolls I66 and I6! are in contact for a substantial portion of the periphery of the stripping roll I66. Rolls I66 and I6! are driven at a considerably higher peripheral speed than feed roll I65. A suction conduit I68 opening adjacent roll I61 is provided to remove the barbs from rubber roll I61. A deflector I69 is positioned adjacent the outlet from the stripping roll to guide the shafts to wheel I16 provided with a plurality of arms, which, upon rotation, throws the shafts clear of the machine.

The stripper shown in Fig. 9 involves a hopper I1I, the lower end of which is provided with bars I12 lengthwise and bars I13 crosswise. The lengthwise bars are vertical whereas the crosswise bars are set at an angle to the vertical with the lower edge bent toward the outlet end of the machine. An agitator I14 is pivoted to a lever I15 which is pivot-ed at its upper end to the hopper and is provided with a pin I16 intermediate its length to which a link I11 is pivoted. The link I11 is pivoted at its opposite end to a wheel I18, eccentrically thereof, whereby rotation thereof will cause agitation of member I14. An endless belt I19 is disposed immediately below the bars I12 and I13 sufficiently closely that bars I13 will hold the feathers against the belt and prevent their disarrangement. The belt is mounted to travel on three rolls, one roll I80 at the inlet end of the belt I19 and two at the outlet end. A fluted feed roll I8I and cooperating pinch roll I82, as previously described, are positioned in proximity to the outlet of the belt. A substantially vertical conduit, a portion of which is defined by belt I19 and by rolls I8I and I82, communicates with hopper I1I whereby feathers not lying longitudinally will be returned to the hopper by a current of air passing through the conduit. A stripper roll I83 and cooperating endless belt I34, similar to those described in connection with feather strippers 28 and 18, are positioned adjacent feed roll I8I and driven at a peripheral speed high with respect to the feed roll whereby the barbs are stripped. A suction separator is provided adjacent the outlet from the stripper roll, the separator comprising a pair of deflectors I85, I86 which direct the shafts into a suction conduit I81 and also a suction conduit I88 opening adjacent the outlet for picking up the barbs and conveying them to any desired location.

While I have shown and described various specific methods and apparatus, I desire it to be understood the present invention is not limited thereto except as so limited by the subjoined claims.

Having now described my invention, I claim:

1. In a feather stripping machine, means to arrange feathers with their quill ends in one direction, a member mounted for rotation and arrange feathers with their quill ends in one direction, a driven endless belt arranged with an end of one run thereof adjacent said means and the other end of said run spaced therefrom, suction means to draw air through said belt whereby feathers arranged by said means adhere to the belt and are conveyed thereby, and feeding means arranged to receive feathers from said belt and feed them, quill ends first.

3. A feather stripper comprising means to arrange and feed feathers, quill ends first, a roll provided with grooves of a size to receive the shafts of said feathers and having surfaces between said grooves, means to press against said surfaces comprising a belt arranged to contact the periphery of said roll throughout a substantial portion of the periphery thereof.

4. A feather stripper comprising means to arrange and feed feathers, quill ends first, a roll provided with grooves of a size to receive the shafts of said feathers and having surfaces between said grooves, an endless belt arranged to contact said roll and to move therewith throughout a substantial portion of the periphery of said roll, said roll being arranged to be driven at a higher peripheral speed than the feathers are fed by said means.

5. A feather stripping machine comprising means to arrange and feed feathers, quill ends first, a roll provided with grooves of a size to receive the shafts of feathers and having surfaces between said grooves, an endless belt arranged to contact said roll, a plurality of pinch rolls arranged to hold said belt against said roll throughout a substantial portion of the periphery thereof.

6. In a feather stripping machine, a roll provided with a plurality of grooves of a size to receive the shafts of feathers and with surfaces between said grooves, means to press against said roll and to travel therewith, a conduit to which suction is applied having an opening adjacent said roll and said means, and deflecting means to deflect shafts of feathers and thereby prevent entry thereof into said opening.

'I. In a feather stripping machine, a roll provided with a plurality of grooves of a size to receive the shafts of feathers and with surfaces between said grooves, means to press against said roll and to travel therewith, a conduit to which suction is applied having an opening adjacent said roll and said means, and deflecting means to deflect shafts of feathers and thereby prevent entry thereof into said opening, a second conduit to which suction is applied, and means to direct the shafts into said second conduit.

BOHUMIL BOUDA. 

